The Department of Health (Department) has updated the clinical screening tool health care providers use in the identification of persons under investigation or suspected for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The clinical screening tool is intended to assist health care practitioners in understanding their role in identifying individuals, specimen collection, shipping of specimens, and notification of local county health departments, as appropriate.

The State Surgeon General, Dr. Scott Rivkees, is currently hosting a weekly health care provider telephone conference call designed to provide updates from the Department, briefing from the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration, updates from other state agencies and address questions from partners. If you are interested in joining this weekly call, please see the call-in information below:

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued their CDC Health Alert Network (HAN) Update which highlights guidance and recommendations for evaluating and identifying patients
who should be tested for COVID-19 that was shared on March 4, 2020, on the CDC COVID-19 website
at https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nCoV/hcp/clinical-criteria.html.
It supersedes the guidance and recommendations provided in CDC’s HAN 428 distributed on February 28, 2020.